Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 62, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 4, 1996 Page: 1 of 22
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By DIANNA LcDaIRON sionary over in Africa, but my mother
Special Sections editor felt I was too young to go off so far
from home," reminisced borothy,
Dorothy Johnson's life has taken a now a retired school teacher. Al-
few turns since childhood, but she though fate was not to grant her that
has no regrets. Life has been and is wish.shedidgoontobeamissionary
still very rewarding. of sorts within the education environ-
" As a young girl out of high school, ment
I wanted so much to become a mis
Having somewhat of a progressive
Chamber
helping to
build leaders
Polk County
ENTER““,eB
114 ftnaber 62
The Dominant New* and AdrcrtUng Source in ruin <
Comp
Sunday, 1
Aug. 4,1996
USPS 437-340 Price* 50 <
New municipal complex, water work
City focusing on major projects
LIVINGSTON - Preliminary
plans for a new police sta-
tion/municipal complex and
proposed water system improve-
ments are among the items on a full
agenda facing the Ljvingston City
Council.
The council will meet at 5 p.m.
Monday, with the regular meeting
having been rescheduled from its
usual second Tuesday.
Much of the discussion will re-
volve around the proposed new city
complex.
Mary Kay Hicks, district forester
with the Texas Forest Service will
report on trees on the site which
may be affected by proposed con-
struction, financing options for the
project will be discussed with
Financial Advisor Jim Gilley, and
Architect Jerry Hill will review
preliminary concept designs and
schematics for the police sta-
tion/municipal complex.
The council will also review op-
tions for removal of the murals in
the police station, paintings created
under a 1934 New Deal program
which are now considered to have
historical value and are the proper-
ty of the U.S. government.
Councilmembers will also hear
options for proposed water system
improvements, including booster
pump stations on Cemetery Hill
and on East West Streets. Due to
water distribution problems en-
hanced by the drought, residents in
areas south of Choates Creek are
now being asked to limit outdoor
watering to odd-number days, for
those with odd-number street ad-
dresses, or even-number days, for
those with even-number addresses.
A proposal for a street and
drainage survey will also be
presented.
In other business, the council
will consider applying for a Law
Enforcement Block Grant from the
U.S. Department of Justice for
Community Oriented Policing
Services (COPS), consider a pay-
ment request for work on the Mur-
phy Memorial Library renovation
project, and consider advertising
for bids on chemical requirements
for 1996-97.
City Manager Sam Gordon is
slated to report on upcoming Texas
Municipal League meetings and on
the preliminary budget far the fis-
cal year beginning Oct. i, 1996.
A public hearing on that
proposed budget is expected to be
called for Sept. 10.
Music, buggy rides highlight party
lirmnBl photo by Gordon ubarron
TAKING SHAPE -- Construction personnel working off a
110x90-foot platform barge hoist a 100,000-pound support
beam into place on the soon-to-be bridge across the Trinity
River below Lake Livingston Dam. Work on the structure will
halt in October in deference to bald eagles nesting in the area.
LIVINGSTON - The phrase,
"Gone to Texas" was common in the
1830s and 1840s all across the south-
ern pari of the United States.
Texas represented a new begin-
ning for those who were tough and
brave enough to risk the hardships of
this untamed country. A historical
presentation of this event in Texas
history will be presented at Heritage
Park at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 8 during
the Sesquicentennial celebration. A
group from Huntsville will present
the melodrama, Gone to Texas, dur-
ing the evening event to help cel-
ebrate the 150th birthday of Polk
County and the town of Livingston.
Additional performances for this
celebration will include the Beau-
mont Dulcimer Society, the Forest
Trail Singers Quartet and the
Livingston Area Community Band.
Other activities during the day will
include the Posting of the Colors by
the American Legion Post 312 at 3
p.m., a ribbon-cutting ceremony for
Locomotive No. 5coverat4:30pun.
and a Texas-size birthday cake will
be served at 8 p.m.
Buggy and wagon rides, tours of
the Jonas Davis cabin and Locomo-
tive No. S, a folk music jam session,
arrowhead making demonstration,
and the "Hoops to Hippies" fashion
ntalfAii * .u a htiAu
nature, borothy, who taught third
and fourth grade (in the same room)
at Dunbar School in the '30s and '60s,
was one of the first black teachers
that Livingston ISD assigned to
Livingston Elementary School dur-
ing the transitional period just prior
to forced integration.
That was an experience for her and
her white students, but her story be-
gins much earlier when she was
adopted after her biological mother
died in childbirth in 1927. Zella and
Luke Watkins, who could not have
children, convinced her father and
grandmother that they should adopt
and love her as their own.
It was here in a modest home in
Pasadena, Texas that she received
her training in music and the arts,
which she would practice the rest of
her life. Her mother saw to it that she
received all the opportunities they
could afford in order to give her an
edge on success and it paid off.
Completing high school at IS,
Dorothy attended Mary Allen Pres-
byterian College in Crockett, a black
school that closed down after her first
year, and finished her bachelor's de-
gree at Texas College in Tyler when
she was 19.
While there, W.W. Johnson, prin-
cipal of the all-black school at
Corrigan, came to interview her for a
teaching position and she got it.
"I didn't have any idea where
Corrigan was" smiled Dorothy, "but
1 was willing to go."
So in 1946 she began her 40 years
in education teaching music, Spanish
and third and fourth grades, prima-
rily.
While in Corrigan, Dorothy mar-
ried the principal's son, L.C. "Cat,"
who was also a teacher, and they
moved together to New Willard where
L.C became principal until the school
consolidated with Dunbar in 1957.
They came to Dunbar and brought
their school house with them, liter-
ally. Dorothy remembers that small
wooden structure with mixed emo-
tions. "It got so cold in there some-
times,” she recalled, "that we had to
go outside to get warm."
Once, in trying to keep the chil-
dren warm, she overfilled the stove
with wood and ran everyone out with
the heat when the stove got red hot,
threatening to set everything on fire.
The books were second-hand and
out of date, even after moving to
Dunbar, but Dorothy took her job
seriously and offered her children a
first-class education. There were
times, also, when she bought chil-
dren shoes or clothing and fed them
because she couldn't bear to ignore
their needs that weren't being met.
In the late '60s, when she went
over to the "white" school, she al-
ready had seen the news coverage of
the integration riots in the south. She
didn't know what to expect, but it
turned out to be very peaceful.
"I didn't have any problems with
the students I taught," she said, who
for the first couple of years were all
white. "And after their parents got
used to the idea, they were fine, also.
Dorothy retired in 1986, but she
didn't stay out of the classrooms.
Every chance she got, she volun-
teered for one program or another
and gave numerous presentations on
black history, using a variety of teach-
ing aids she has collected over the
years.
See MUSIC pg. 6A
lilPlf
KNTRRfRISR PHOTO BY DIANNA URARRON
I*'-'”
JOHNSON AND COMPANY - Retired teacher, Dorothy Johnson,
poses with a few of her favorite things, dolls from her cherished
collection. For years, she has used many of them to help f-.ach
children how to get along with one an , u« mattei, color
they happen to be.
exhibit will be occurring during the
afternoon and into the evening.
The Sons of Confederate Veter-
ans, Ike Turner Camp and members
of the New Army of the Republic of
Texas will be performing a demon-
stration. Members of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy and
members of the Order of the Confed-
erate Rose will be in period costume.
Chief Clayton Smiley Sylesdne
(Oscala) of die Alabama-Coushatta
Indian Reservation and Second Chief
Clem Fain Sylesdne (Colebe) will be
greeting visitors throughout the
evening. Barbecue, soft drinks, iced
tea, lemonade and watermelon will
be available for
CARRIAGE RIDES - Folks who attend the Sesquicentennial
celebration on Thursday will have their choice of catching a ride
in this restored 19th century carriage or in a replica (built to scale)
of a covered wagon. Bells will ring throughout the town at noon
to kick off the celebration. Visitors are encouraged to bring lawn
chairs and blankets and share in festivities which will begin It 3
p.m. at Heritage Park.
Wreck claims life
CORRIGAN - A 33-year-old
Corrigan man died and two others
were injured Tuesday in a one-
vehicle accident on FM 352, four
miles east of Corrigan.
Dewayne Farrell Purvis was
driving a 1995 Ford Explorer sports
utility vehicle eastbound at ap-
proximately 7:10 p.m. when the
vehicle swerved off to the left, ac-
cording to Texas Highway Patrol
Trooper Harold Goggins. His in-
vestigation showed the Explorer
traveled back to the center of the
road, turned sideways, left the lef-
thand side of the road again, struck
a culvert with guardrail and became
airborne, traveling 22 feet before
landing on its top.
One of the passengers told the
trooper that Purvis had swerved to
avoid another vehicle.
Purvis was pronounced dead at
the scene.
Two passengers in the vehicle -
Wesley Ray Purvis, 9, and
Dewayne David Purvis, 10, both of
Chester - were taken by am-
bulance to Woodland Heights
Medical Center in Lufkin with non-
incapacitating injuries.
A relative of the victims in the
accident was enroute to the scene
when he was involved in a separate
accident.
Cleo Purvis, 60, of Corrigan was
eastbound on FM 352, at ap-
proximately 7:45 p.m., when the
1992 Chevrolet pickup truck he
was driving went out of control,
overturned and came to rest in the-
westbound ditch, according to the
trooper. Purvis was taken to Wood-
land Heights Medical Center by
private ’'elude with incapacitating
injuries.
No charges were filed.
Waste date slated
MOONLIGHT SONATA - Dorothy Johnson still plays classical
music with a delcute touch. $!*«; can also play any church hymn
by car, someting very difficult for most classical pianists.
COLDSPRING - East Texans
will have the chance to dispose of
household hazardous waste, such as
old paint and oven cleaners, for
free Aug. 10 in Coldspring.
"This is a chance to clean out
those chemicals from under your
sink and get rid of them free of
charge," Emergency Management
Coordinator John McDowell said.
The Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission has
designated San Jacinto County as
the regional location to collect
household hazardous waste. Collec-
tion day will be Saturday, Aug. 10
in the Coldspring High School
parking lot in Coldspring. Time for
collection will be from 9 a.m. until
3 p.m.
This is an opportunity for people
to dispose of 'waste household
chemicals that have been stored in
the garage. Household chemicals
include the following items: Old
paint, paint thinners, antifreeze,
weed killers, insecticides, batteries,
rat poisons, oven cleaners, cleaning
solvents or any type of chemicals
used around the home.
Chemicals from businesses, in-
dustrial waste chemicals, radioac-
tive material, explosives or medical
waste will not be accepted.
Polk County collection sites will
not accept household chemical
waste. The Coldspring collection
site will be the only location avail-
able to local residents in this region
of Texas this year.
McDowell said his office
receives about 200 calls a year
from people wanting to know
where to dump household chemical
waste. He emphasized « ui* will be
the only time this year the service
will be available.
For more information, interested
persons may call McDowell at 327*
6829 or 327-5647.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 62, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 4, 1996, newspaper, August 4, 1996; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth819824/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.